Job Responsibilities
As a consultant my job can change from day to day and client to
client. Having said that, there are some constants that are
consistent throughout my different assignments, and they are:
1) Gathering of Information
2) Analysis of information
3) Formulation of Recommendations
4) Application of specialist Knowledge (generally a technical
expertise)
5) Client Relationship Management
Depending on the phase of the engagement(s) that you are
assigned, you may be doing all of this activities at once.
Gartner often requires that the consultant be engaged with a
number of projects at once (3-5) in order to maintain your
billability target (Senior con. 85%, Associate Director 80%,
Director 70%, VP 30%). Experienced Senior Consultants and
Associate Directors are expected to Project Management
engagements, while Directors and VPs are expected to be
engagement managers managing 3-5 engagements.
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Job Requirements
N/A
Gartner hires seasoned professionals, those with 10+ years of
experience. They prefer an advanced degree, but the company does
not value an MBA more than any other advanced degree and
therefore under utilizes it MBAs. The make up of the company is
toward older professionals that have completed a 15-25 career
elsewhere, a premium is put upon knowledge brought to the
company. Training is scant within the firm, but you should be
able to attend one or two Gartner conferences per year. The
difficulty is with finding the time based upon your billability
requirements.
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Uppers
Flexible work experience and once you achieve a level of competence the ability
to manage your own projects, thus freeing you from the indentured servitude of
your project manager. Depending on the office, travel varies to none in the DC
office to 80% in others.
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Downers
Constant push for the numbers. Managements?? continuous focus on
the numbers leads you to believe that you are only a cog in the
machine and can easily be replaced. Career Advancement is also
hit or miss, your best bet is to attach yourself to a company
high flyer as there is no internal plan for promotions. Self
promotion is also invaluable to promotion opportunities.
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Lifestyle
Lifestyle is pretty relaxed. Suits are only required when meeting the clients,
work can be done at home - although the DC office has a culture of face time,
hours are do-able 50-60 per week - some spikes if multiple projects are due at
once, still difficult for women employees - senior managers always seem more
interested in family plans than is appropriate, etc.
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Compensation
Compensation is never spoken about by management. Negotiate hard
before coming. 505% of the salaries have not been increased for
3 years and promotions only provided a 2-3.5% increase. Salary
ranges are enormous (7 pay bands):
Senior Con - $80K - $110K + 15% bonus
Ass. Dir. - $100K - $130K + 15% bonus
Dir. - $120K - $160K + 20% bonus
VP $15)K - $200K + 20%+ bonus
Stock options are worth much less then they were, not really a
good option as a source of compensation. Singing bonus range
from $0K-$15K, benefits are good (dental, vision, health care,
Spouse/Partner coverage, 25 days of vacation/sick time [must hit
numbers to take vacation], etc.)
Again, the number you start with will be the base you work with
forever, so negotiate hard.
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Advice to Jobseekers
New-comers must hit the ground running. Your reputation will be
made or lost within the first 2-3 months with the firm. Very
little guidance is given and new employees are expected to be
enough of a generalist to pick-up a project and run with it. The
worse phrase to utter as a new employee is ??This is not my area
of expertise", temper that with "but I am willing to try. Can
you direct me to a subject matter expert, etc.". This could be
different office to office, but the DC office offers very little
guidance.
To sum, you are thrown into the deep end to see if you sink or
swim. If you swim they give you a brick and start the process
over again. They also expect you to bill out by the hour, not
day - meaning that when you are given a job to do it may only be
1-10 hours for which to do it, as opposed to you will be on this
client for X number of days/weeks.
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